Discarded Elastic Bands Harm Hedgehogs

Update #1 July 31, 2014

We're still quite far off from our 1,000 signatories goal. Please continue to spread the word!

About this Petition

It's probably a familiar sight: the rubber bands dropped by Royal Mail postman as they disentangle your post to put it through your letterbox. Next time, though, you might want to consider picking that up -- rubber bands can harm local wildlife like hedgehogs by becoming tangled around them, digging deep into their organs as they grow.

More information here. It's been an issue in the news before now, but it's always worth raising to people's attention again, especially as hedgehog numbers decline throughout the country.

If you think you might have hedgehogs in your garden, consider putting out a little bowl of food for them! There are dedicated hedgehog foods being sold in shops, but a few mealworms or some cat food like chicken in jelly go down a treat too. Rescues also suggest putting out a bowl of water if you don't have a pond/fountain in your garden, as rescues mention dehydrated hedgehogs as a frequent problem.

UPDATE: Thank you to Phillip Anderton for drawing my attention to this article about the cost of the rubber bands to the Royal Mail, as well as to the environment and wildlife. There's no excuse to keep using them!

Please sign this to ask the Royal Mail to either phase out using elastic bands altogether, or if they can't do that, then let's ask them to educate their posties on the animal welfare problems that dropped litter like this can cause.

thank you for signing:

help us make this change happen

thank you for sharing

THIS URGENT ACTION ALSO NEEDS YOUR HELP!

sponsored by:

target:

signatures:

goal:

First Name

Last Name

Email

Country

Street Address

City

keep me updated:

Sending...

Share my signature on Facebook

embed this petition onto your site or blog

Make a difference for the issues you care about while adding cool interactive
content. Your readers sign without ever leaving your site. It's simple, just choose
your widget size and color and copy the embed code to your site or blog.